Tim Padgett

Americas Decoded

News EN ↓ 28 episodes

Bi-weekly foreign affairs commentary that dissects Latin America, the Caribbean and their key relationship with the U.S. through the latest political, economic and cultural news in the region - and pulls no punches. Go to WLRN.org/Decoded to watch the Americas Decoded YouTube show. Tim Padgett is the Americas Editor for WLRN, South Florida's NPR member station. He has reported on Latin America for more than 35 years — including for Newsweek as its Mexico City bureau chief and for Time as its Latin America and Miami bureau chief — from the end of Central America's civil wars to the normalizatio...

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Author

Tim Padgett

Episodes

Venvasion: Will drugs be Trump’s Venezuela WMD? 10.09.2025 7:45

Opinion: The U.S. military strike on a suspected Venezuelan narco-boat raises a troubling question: is Trump looking to use drugs as his version of weapons of mass destruction? On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett worries that small victories like the recent military strike on an alleged Venezuelan boat could create bigger, Iraq-style temptations for Trump...

Venezuela, Mexico: Trump’s cartel military threats 26.08.2025 7:51

Opinion: President Donald Trump is threatening to unleash the U.S. military on drug cartels in Mexico and Venezuela — but sending troops to take down traffickers usually ends badly. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, Tim Padgett looks at the longstanding U.S. urge to have the military fight Latin America’s drug cartels - and how Trump’s similar ‘shock and awe’ approach to D.C. is also misg...

Milei’s Argentina shows Trump triumph without tariffs 22.08.2025 7:45

OPINION: Donald Trump admires Argentine President Javier Milei — so why is Trump pushing tariffs and economic policies so divorced from the ‘Milei Miracle’? WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett continues to grimace at Milei’s vulgar and reactionary demagoguery, but admits that “his economic orthodoxy crusade has brought welcome order to Argentina’s fiscal chaos” and shows Trump that populist bullies...